Review of Evita (2009) by Jedd Y — 01 Feb 2010

I really enjoyed Evita and thought it was very enthralling. Compared to the other big cinematic Andrew Lloyd Webber film, 2004's The Phantom of the Opera, I thought it was so much better. Sure, it amounted to not much more than a caricature of Eva Peron, but it was a surprisingly good performance by Madonna. My Mum was saying it's a pity she isn't in more films. Her voice is a little "pop" and not very "Broadway", but it was a good performance.

I also really enjoyed Antonio Banderas as the narrator Che, a one-man Greek chorus who is critic, observer and well, critic. He pops up everywhere in various personas and it's very entertaining and amusing. Jonathan Pryce is also great as President Peron himself, shortly before he decided to ham it up as a Bond villain in Tomorrow Never Dies.

And then of course there's the music. Andrew Lloyd Webber is a musical genius, no matter what his critics say. You can dance to almost every song in Evita, and there's a distinctive Argentine flavour in the beat. Tim Rice's lyrics are also witty and appropriate, and there's so much variety ranging from the exuberant "Buenos Aires" to the sad and emotional "You Must Love Me", and of course the most famous of them all, "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". My favourite song in the film was "High Flying Adored" an observation on how far Eva has come, delivered by Antonio Banderas in his charming exotic accent.

It's overall a very atmospheric film with a wonderful period flavour provided by on-location filming in Argentina itself and Budapest. Seek it out if you like musicals, Evita will win you over if you don't.